Configure Winter Weather Operations

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Winter Weather Operations can be used to monitor winter weather operations in real-time, measure key performance indicators, and share road status updates with the public.

In this topic, you'll learn how to configure the Winter Weather Operations solution to meet specific needs in your organization.

Tip:
As you configure the solution, record the configurations or alterations you make with each version in a change log. This information will be valuable if you upgrade to a new version and need to evaluate the effort required.

Migrate data from the previous version

The Winter Weather Operations solution includes an ArcGIS Data Pipelines pipeline that can be used to load snow route, service district, event and vehicle information from the version 1.1 schema into the version 2.0 schema.

To migrate data, complete the following steps:

  1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse, to the Winter Weather Operations Data Migration data pipeline.
  2. Select the Service Districts feature input on the far left of the diagram.
  3. In the Parameters pane, remove the Service Districts feature service.
  4. Click Select Layer.
  5. Use the Select a feature layer window to select the 1.1 feature layer, ServiceAreas, then select the Service Districts layer.
  6. Click Confirm.
  7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 for the following data inputs.
    • SnowRoutes (SnowRoutes Feature layer (hosted), SnowRoutes Line layer in v1.1)
    • Vehicles 1.1 (OperationsManagement Table (hosted), Vehicles Table in v1.1)
    • Events (OperationsManagement Table (hosted), Events Table in v1.1)
  8. Click Run.
  9. If you have added fields to the 1.1 services, there may be warnings and errors preventing the data migration. Add the fields as necessary to the 2.0 layers and update the data pipeline as prompted to address these issues.

Manage snow routes, service districts and vehicles data

Before using the solution, you must create and load your organization's snow routes, service districts, and parking restrictions (if applicable) into the feature layers deployed with the solution. The Winter Weather Data Management ArcGIS Pro project includes a series of tasks to help you prepare, create, and load these foundational layers in the solution.

Note:
If you completed the previous topic to migrate data from v1.1 to v2.0, you can skip this topic and proceed to the Support snowplow drivers topic instead.

  1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Winter Weather Data Management desktop application template.
  2. From the item page, click Download.
  3. Unzip the downloaded folder, and then from the unzipped folder, open the ArcGIS Pro project.
  4. If you do not see the Catalog pane, from the View tab, in the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.
  5. Expand the Tasks folder, and then double-click the Winte Weather Data Management task group.
  6. In the Tasks pane, click the Prepare existing data, Process snow routes, and Append to feature layers task groups to expand the collection of tasks.

Prepare existing data

Your organization may have existing snow routes or street centerline data and service district boundaries. This data can be loaded into the target feature classes in the file geodatabase provided in the Winter Weather Data Management project.

Maintaining an authoritative inventory of vehicle information helps bring together disparate sources of information and creates a common operating picture of vehicles supporting operations. The vehicle inventory also helps you understand the state of automated vehicle location (AVL) technology used by your fleet, identifies the needs of vehicles without AVL, and documents important vehicle information required by the solution. Before you can bulk upload vehicle information into the solution, follow the instructions in the Vehicles task to document vehicle information using the Vehicle Loading Excel spreadsheet.

Note:

In addition to uploading vehicle information in bulk, you can add new vehicles and modify vehicle information using the Snowplows page in the Winter Operations Center.

Service districts may represent boundaries within your jurisdiction that your agency uses for driver assignments or other boundaries such as neighborhoods that directors and operations management want to use to compare progress. The service district IDs will later be associated with snow routes, enabling the Winter Weather Operations solution to measure operations progress and last serviced information based on service districts. Follow the instructions in the Service Districts task to load existing data, add new features if necessary, and define service district IDs.

Snow routes are used to represent street segments your agency is responsible for servicing during winter weather events. Follow the instructions in the Snow Routes task to load existing snow route features and attributes such as road name, route priority, snow route ID, and road class. Additional steps are provided to guide you through populating required fields used by the solution's apps and ArcGIS Velocity analytics.

Note:

Valid values are required in the T_AUTOMOBILES and F_AUTOMOBILES fields. These fields are used by the ArcGIS Velocity Snap to Network tool as part of an analytic model delivered with the Winter Weather Operations solution. If you are only using the Winter Weather Outreach solution, or do not have these attributes for your snow routes, these values will be populated for you to indicate that all snow route features represent two-way travel.

Process snow routes

Once snow routes, parking restrictions, and service district information is prepared and loaded into the solution schema, additional refinement is required to process new snow route attributes and features used by solution applications and ArcGIS Velocity analytics. Follow the steps in the Process snow routes task to intersect snow routes with service district information, edit snow route features, create unique snow route identifiers, and calculate snow route segment length.

Append to feature layers

After preparing and processing existing data into the solutions schema using the Winter Weather Data Management geodatabase, snow routes, service districts, and vehicle data is now ready to be loaded into feature layers deployed with the solution. Follow the steps in the Append to feature layers task to complete the data management workflows required by the solution.

Note:

The Vehicles feature layer is shared by the Mowing Operations, Street Sweeping Operations, and Winter Weather Operations solutions.

Support snowplow drivers

The Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project can be used to support drivers of vehicles that do not have an AVL device. This QuickCapture project enables drivers to track their location, and report status updates, issues in the roadway, and material information. By provisioning users and creating a track view, you will be able to connect to and process information from drivers using the QuickCapture project in ArcGIS Velocity in the same way that you connect to and process information from an AVL device. This ensures that no matter what technology or device is supporting your vehicle with automated vehicle location reporting, you will be able to track where vehicles are in real-time, know when a route was last serviced, and effectively measure the performance of your operations.

After completing the vehicle inventory, reference the Location Source field in the Vehicles table. If all vehicles are identified as Vendor AVL Only, you can proceed to the next topic, Configure feeds.

If you have identified any vehicle's Location Source field as ArcGIS Only or Vendor AVL Locations with ArcGIS Field Operations, complete the next three sections starting with this section, Provision Users, to support drivers of these vehicles with ArcGIS location sharing and field operations capabilities.

Provision users

Included with the Winter Weather Operations solution is a group designed to help organize drivers, provide access to the Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project, and add drivers to an ArcGIS Tracker view.

Note:

User accounts must already be created for drivers before you can perform this workflow. Drivers user accounts must have a minimum user type of Mobile Worker in order to use the Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project.

To add drivers to the Winter Operations Drivers group, complete the following steps:

  1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and verify that you have privileges to manage member groups.
  2. Click Groups at the top of the site.
  3. Browse to the Winter Operations Drivers group and click it to open the group page.
  4. On the Overview tab, click Invite members.
  5. Check the check box next to the members that you want to add and click Add members to group.

Create a track view

When completing the vehicle inventory, you may have identified vehicles in your fleet with no AVL technology on board. The drivers of these vehicles will use devices in the vehicle to report vehicle location using ArcGIS location sharing technology.

Referencing the vehicle information created in the previous steps, you will use Track Viewer to create a track view of drivers supporting your operations.

Note:

To create track views, you must be a member of the default administrator role in your organization.

  1. In a browser, sign in to your organization and open Track Viewer.

    By default, Track Viewer is in the app launcher you enabled location sharing and you have the view location tracks privilege.

  2. Click Create View.
  3. Type the name ArcGIS Snowplow Drivers, or provide a different name and click Create View.
    Tip:

    Make a note of the name used for the view. You will reference the name of this view in later steps when creating vehicle feeds in ArcGIS Velocity.

    When you create the view, a group in ArcGIS Online that controls access to the view is also created.

  4. On the Mobile Users tab, add drivers whose last known locations and tracks should be seen in the track view.
    1. Click the Select to add mobile users drop-down menu.
    2. Scroll to the Groups (import members) section and select the Winter Operations Drivers group.
    3. Click Add.

Share the Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project

The Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project is used by drivers to report vehicle location, service status, material usage and issues during winter weather operations.

To share the Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project with your drivers, complete the following steps:

  1. Confirm that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the ArcGIS QuickCapture application.
  2. Click Winter Operations Reporter.

    The project opens and there is one sharing-related error to resolve.

  3. In the Messages panel on the left, click Share items.

    The Share the following items with project users? window appears.

  4. Click Share items.

    When the solution was initially deployed, the Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project was automatically shared to ArcGIS Hub related groups, but the feature layers used by the QuickCapture project were not.

  5. Click Save.

You have created a track view of drivers supporting your winter weather operations using Track Viewer and location sharing within the Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project to report their vehicle location. You are now ready to configure a feed in ArcGIS Velocity to connect to this track view.

Configure feeds

A feed is a real-time stream of data coming into ArcGIS Velocity. Feeds typically connect to external sources of observational data such as Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, message brokers, or third-party APIs. Feeds parse incoming tabular, point, polyline, or polygon data and expose it for analysis and visualization.

The feed deployed with the solution, Vehicles and Last Service Status Feed, is already configured for you and only requires that you start the feed. You will also use feeds to connect to and ingest location data generated by your vehicles, whether from a vendor AVL system, drivers using ArcGIS location sharing on their devices, or a mix of both, depending on the needs identified during the vehicle inventory. The steps to configure vehicle feeds will vary depending on the needs of your organization.

Note:
Follow the steps in the order they are presented below when configuring feeds and analytics.

Start the Vehicles and Last Service Status Feed

The Vehicles and Last Service Status Feed ingests records from the Vehicles and Last Service Status feature layer view. This join view contains all vehicle records stored in the Vehicles table, and if present, is joined with the latest records created in the Service Status layer. Creating a feed from this join view enables the Winter Weather Operations solution to create a common operating picture from multiple vehicle feed sources.

Note:

The Vehicles and Last Service Status Feed is shared by the Mowing Operations, Street Sweeping Operations, and Winter Weather Operations solutions. If you are using more than one of these solutions, this feed may already be running.

This feed is already configured and executable. Complete the following steps to start the feed:

  1. Confirm that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the ArcGIS Velocity application.
  2. Using the site menu, click Feeds.
  3. Click Vehicle and Last Service Status Feed to launch the feed Details page.
  4. Click Start to start the feed.

Configure vehicle feeds

Configure vehicle feeds to connect to an automated vehicle location system through a supported third-party API or message broker using supported feed types in ArcGIS Velocity. If drivers are using ArcGIS location sharing on devices in their vehicles, you can also configure vehicle feeds to consume the track view of drivers supporting winter operations created in previous steps.

To configure a vehicle feed from a track view created in Track Viewer, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the ArcGIS Velocity application.
  2. Click Create feed.
  3. Click See all in the ArcGIS feed type.
  4. Click Feature Layer.
  5. From the Select Layer step, ensure the search context is My Content, and then search for and select the ArcGIS Snowplow Drivers feature service.

    Note:
    If you do not own the location tracking layer in your organization, you will need to change the search context to My Organization to find the ArcGIS Snowplow Drivers feature service.

  6. Under Select a sublayer, click to select Last Known Locations (1), then select Next.
  7. Leave the default parameters for the Filter Data step and select Next.
  8. Leave the default parameters for the Confirm Schema step and select Next.
    Note:

    You may receive a "There was a problem sampling for messages" error. This error occurs when ArcGIS Velocity is unable to derive a schema for your track view since there have been no recorded tracks for any mobile users in your track view within the last thirty days. To proceed, have at least one mobile user in your track view turn on their location tracking to log a track, and then resample or click Try again. See Confirm schema in the ArcGIS Velocity Configure input data help topic for more information.

  9. Change the Date field for latest features to location_timestamp and select Next.
  10. Leave the default parameters for the Identify Key Fields step and select Next.
  11. Change the Feed Polling Interval value to Runs periodically every 10 seconds Every day and click Next.
  12. Name the feed ArcGIS Snowplow Drivers Feed and optionally provide a summary.

    An alternate name can be used for your vehicle feed, but the vehicle feed name above will be referenced in subsequent steps.

  13. Optionally, change the folder where the feed will be stored.

    The default location is the home folder.

  14. Click Complete to finish configuring the feed.

You have just configured a feed to ingest vehicle locations reported by drivers with ArcGIS location sharing technology on their devices. If you want to configure a vehicle feed to connect to a third-party API, data provider, cloud, or message broker, complete the following steps; otherwise, proceed to Update analytics.

When configuring feeds to connect to a third-party API, data provider, cloud, or message broker, consider the information gathered during the vehicle inventory. If the vehicle inventory indicates all vehicles are supported by your vendor AVL (Location Source is Vendor AVL Only for all vehicles), you only need to create a single vehicle feed.

If you identified any vehicles with AVL that do not have additional telemetry to indicate an in-service status during operations such as plow up/down and active material spreading (Location Source is Vendor AVL Location with ArcGIS Field Operations), you will need to create a separate feed for these vehicles so drivers can report their service status, as well as report material and roadway issues using the Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project.

To connect to a third-party API, data provider, cloud, or message broker for vehicles in your inventory where the locationsource value is either Vendor AVL Only or Vendor AVL Location and ArcGIS Field Operations, complete the following steps :

  1. Open the ArcGIS Velocity application.
  2. Click Create feed.
  3. Choose the feed type you want to create by browsing the groups of feeds or by using search with a keyword. The feed types needed to connect to your vendor AVL are grouped into three categories:
    • Cloud
    • Web and Messaging
    • Data Providers
  4. Select the feed type you want to create.
  5. Enter the feed configuration details. Note that the configuration parameters vary depending on the feed type selected.
  6. Click Next to continue with the remaining steps, including confirming the schema, identifying the key fields, and defining the polling interval (if applicable), pausing on the last step, Save, to name your feed according to the following choices:
    • Name your vehicle feed AVL Snowplow Feed for a feed supporting vehicles whose Location Source field is set to Vendor AVL Only.
    • Name your vehicle feed AVL Location Only Snowplow Feed for a feed supporting vehicles whose Location Source field is set to Vendor AVL Location and ArcGIS Field Operations.
      Note:

      Alternate names can be used for your vehicle feeds, but the above vehicle feed names will be referenced in subsequent steps.

  7. Click Complete to finish configuring the feed.
    Note:

    For more information, see Configure input data and the Create a feed quick lesson.

Update analytics

Two ArcGIS Velocity analytics, one real-time analytic and one big data analytic, are deployed with the solution and must be updated once all feeds have been configured and are successfully running.

Real-time analytics perform processing on data ingested from feeds, analyzing each individual message as it is received. Real-time analytics are used especially for transforming data, geofencing, and incident detection. The real-time analytic delivered with this solution are configured to transform one or more vehicle feeds into a common operating picture.

Big data analytics perform batch analysis and processing on stored data such as data in a feature layer or cloud big data stores such as Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage. Big data analytics are typically used for summarizing observations, performing pattern analysis, and incident detection. The big data analytic delivered with this solution are configured to provide near real-time route status updates, store vehicle location history, and summarize material usage and distance traveled.

Note:

All feature layer outputs generated by the analytics have specific data retention settings—and where applicable, archiving settings—already configured. Any modifications to data retention and archiving settings should be made before the analytics run for the first time (when output layers are initially created), and after reading guidance in the Modify the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic and Update the Winter Operations Analytics big data analytic sections below. Read more about data retention in ArcGIS Velocity.

Modify the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic

The Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic connects to and merges vehicle and service status information with one or more vehicle feeds, and generates two outputs, Winter Vehicle Stream and Winter Vehicle Tracks.

  • Winter Vehicle Stream output is used to visualize last known vehicle locations for the entire fleet, and consists of a stream layer and a feature layer storing only the latest records for each vehicle.
  • The Winter Vehicle Tracks output is used as an input for multiple pipelines in the Winter Operations Analytics big data analytic. A short data retention window and no archiving is configured for this output as vehicle location history with archiving is already configured for this data on a different output generated by the Winter Operations Analytics big data analytic.

The Winter Vehicle Tracking analytic has been designed to support three different configurations of vehicle feeds consistent with the needs identified in the vehicle inventory and the vehicle feed or feeds you configured in the previous step. The Winter Vehicle Tracking analytic will need to be modified to fit the needs of your organization by locating the correct vehicle feed pipeline in the analytic and replacing the broken placeholder feeds with your vehicle feeds. The steps below outline various tasks for updating the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic to fit the needs of your organization.

Complete the following steps to update the analytic with your vehicle feed and delete unused vehicle feed pipelines:

  1. In the ArcGIS Velocity app, use the site menu and click Real-Time.
  2. Click the Edit button Edit for the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic.
  3. Add your vehicle feed or feeds to the analytic by clicking the plus button on the left, and then click Feeds from the Add Node menu, then click Select existing feed.
  4. Click your vehicle feed in the list and click Confirm.
  5. If you configured more than one vehicle feed, repeat the steps above for each vehicle feed.
  6. Review the broken placeholder feeds list below and their pipelines in the model. You will replace your vehicle feed with the corresponding pipeline.
    Note:

    Do not delete the Vehicles and Last Service Status Feed, regardless of which vehicle feed pipeline is used.

    • If you configured an AVL Snowplows Feed, delete the placeholder AVL Device (Placeholder) and connect your feed as the Target in the Join Vehicle Information to Vehicle Pipeline 1 Feed tool.
    • If you configured an AVL Location Only Snowplows Feed, delete the placeholder AVL Device with ArcGIS Field Operations (Placeholder) and connect your feed as the Target in the Join Vehicles and Last Service Status to Vehicle Pipeline 2 Feed tool.
    • If you configured an ArcGIS Snowplow Drivers Feed, delete the placeholder ArcGIS Location Sharing (Placeholder) and connect your feed as the Target in the Join Vehicles and Last Service Status to Vehicle Pipeline 3 Feed tool.
      Note:

      Do not delete the Vehicles and Last Service Status Feed, regardless of which vehicle feed pipeline is used.

  7. Click Save to commit your changes and validate the analytic.
  8. Once vehicle feeds are connected to the correct pipeline, unused vehicle feed pipelines must be deleted from the model. See the images in step 9 below for the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic.
    • If only one vehicle feed is used, delete all other vehicle feed pipelines from the placeholder vehicle feed to the Merge tool. Reconnect your vehicle feed's pipeline from the Map Fields tool to the Project tool.

      Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic
      The configuration of the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic is shown when only one vehicle feed pipeline is used. Unused analytic pipelines have been removed from the model.

      Click to view a larger version
      Note:

      You can select multiple nodes in the model by pressing the Ctrl key while selecting each node. Click Delete to remove the selected nodes from the model. If you make a mistake when deleting nodes, use keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y to undo and redo edits, respectively.

    • If two of the three vehicle feeds are used, ensure that the pipelines merge after the Map Fields tool and connect directly from the Merge tool to the Project tool.
    • If all three vehicle pipelines are used, ensure each vehicle pipeline is merged and the output is ultimately connected to the Project tool.
  9. Click Save to commit your changes and validate the analytic.
    • If ArcGIS Snowplow Drivers is the only vehicle feed pipeline in your analytic, no additional configuration is needed, since the schema was already known by the pipeline tools connecting to the feed.

    • If you have additional vehicle feeds in your model, continue configuring your vehicle feed pipelines following the steps below.

Additional configuration is required if you are using a vendor AVL for your vehicle feeds (AVL Snowplow Feed or AVL Location Only Snowplow Feed), since the schemas for these feeds vary for different AVL vendors.

Complete the following steps to finish configuring the AVL Snowplow Feed in the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic.

  1. Double-click Join Vehicle Information to Vehicle Pipeline 1 Feed to open the tool properties.
  2. Click the Target field drop-down menu and select the asset or vehicle ID from your feed.

    The target field values are matched to the vehicle ID values recorded in the vehicle inventory.

  3. Click Apply.
  4. Click Save to commit changes and validate the analytic.
  5. Double-click Map Fields Vehicle Pipeline 1 to open the tool properties.
  6. Click the servicestatus field to open field mapping options.

    The servicestatus field will be used to transform raw values from your vehicle feed that indicate plow up/down and material spreading rates, open gates, or other relevant values from your AVL feed, to values used by the solution to indicate whether the vehicle is actively servicing a road and what type of service is being performed.

  7. Click the Code button Code to Configure Arcade expression. Use Arcade to classify raw values from the feed to a valid value below:
    • In Transit
    • Plowing and Deicing
    • Plowing
    • Deicing
    • Anti-icing

    
    //Example Arcade expression to classify values from the feed to values used by the solution
    
    var plowstatus = $feature.yourplowfield
    //example values are text, include "up", "down"
    
    var materialstatus = $feature.yourmaterialfield
    // example values are numeric
    
    if (plowstatus == "up" && materialstatus == 0) {
         return 'In-transit'
    }
    else if (plowstatus == "down" && materialstatus > 0) {
         return 'Plowing and deicing'
    }
    else if (plowstatus == "down" && materialstatus == 0) {
         return 'Plowing'
    }
    else if (plowstatus == "up" && materialstatus > 0) {
         return 'Deicing'
    }
    
    ...

  8. Refer to the table below for a list of output fields that must be mapped with your vehicle feed's input.

    <feed field name>

    speed (Int32)

    <feed field name>

    heading (Float64)

    <feed field name>

    vehicleid (String)

    <feed field name>

    location_timestamp (Date)

    Some fields may require you to transform existing values into the data or value type defined by the output field. For example, if your feed contains speed expressed as meters per second, use the following Arcade expression to calculate miles per hour (miles per hour is the expected unit for speed in the Winter Weather Operations solution):

    //Example Arcade expression
    
    Floor($feature["yourspeedfield"]*2.237)

  9. Optionally, additional fields from your AVL can be retained and mapped into the solution's schema. Refer to the table below for a list of optional output fields and field types that can be mapped with your vehicle feed's input.

    <feed field name>

    aux1 (String)

    <feed field name>

    aux2 (String)

    <feed field name>

    aux3 (String)

    <feed field name>

    aux4 (Float64)

    <feed field name>

    aux5 (Float64)

    <feed field name>

    aux6 (Float64)

  10. Click Apply.
  11. Click Save to commit your changes and validate the analytic.

To finish configuring the AVL Location Only Snowplow Feed in the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic, complete the following steps:

  1. Double-click Join Vehicles and Last Service Status to Vehicle Pipeline 2 Feed to open the tool properties.
  2. Click the Target field drop-down menu and select the asset or vehicle ID from your feed.

    The target field values are matched to the vehicle ID values recorded in the vehicle inventory.

  3. Click Apply.
  4. Double-click the Map Fields Vehicle Pipeline 2 tool to open the field properties.
  5. Refer to the table below for a list of output fields that must be mapped with your vehicle feed's input.

    <feed field name>

    speed (Int32)

    <feed field name>

    heading (Float64)

    <feed field name>

    vehicleid (String)

    <feed field name>

    location_timestamp (Date)

    Some fields may require you to transform existing values into the data or value type defined by the output field. For example, if your feed contains speed expressed as meters per second, use the following Arcade expression to calculate miles per hour:

    //Example Arcade expression
    
    Floor($feature["yourspeedfield"]*2.237)

    The remaining fields are already configured. Since drivers of these vehicles are using the Winter Operations Reporter QuickCapture project, the service status is sourced from the Vehicles and Last Service Status Feed.

  6. Click Apply.
  7. Click Save to save and validate the analytic.
  8. Click Start to start the real-time analytic.

Update the Winter Operations Analytics big data analytic

Winter Operations Analytics is a scheduled big data analytic and is configured with multiple analytic pipelines and feature layer outputs to support near real-time route status updates, summarizes distance traveled and material reports, and stores location track history for each vehicle and service records for each road during winter weather events.

Winter Operations Analytics big data analytic
The Winter Operations Analytics model has several analytic pipelines to track key operational metrics.

Click to view a larger version

  • The first analytic pipeline creates two feature layer, Snow Route Service Summary - Event and Snow Route Service Summary - Phase. These output feature layers summarize the last service information for each event at event end, and last service information for each phase at phase end. These feature layers are used to visualize what route service looked like at the end of each event and phase within the Winter Season Dashboard, also serves as a way to further drill into route service history and the number of passes a road received for past events and phases. Both output feature layers are configured to retain data for one year before it is archived, meaning ArcGIS Velocity will maintain up to two years of your data.
  • The second analytic pipeline updates the Snow Routes layer (Winter Operations feature layer) with last service information as determined by snapping a vehicle track from an in-service snowplow with a road segment. This pipeline also tracks the number of passes, evaluates which side of the road was serviced, and creates an additional output feature layer to store historical route service information. Route service history is configured to retain data for one year before it is archived, meaning ArcGIS Velocity will maintain up to two years of your data.
    Note:

    By default, the only records from the Winter Vehicle Tracks feature layer that will not be processed by the analytic and shown as last serviced is the "In Transit" value in the servicestatus field. All other values in the servicestatus field, including null or empty values, will be processed and treated as an in-service status. This can be modified by updating the Arcade expression in the Join Features tool.

  • The third analytic pipeline stores vehicle location history and associates the tracks with each event and phase. This feature layer output is configured to retain data for one year before it is archived, meaning ArcGIS Velocity will maintain up to two years of your data.
  • The fourth analytic pipeline summarizes each event and phase with the total distance traveled by each vehicle. This pipeline also calculates the distance traveled by vehicles performing an in-service activity. Distance is stored in miles. This feature layer output is configured to retain data for one year before it is archived, meaning ArcGIS Velocity will maintain up to two years of your data.
  • The fifth analytic pipeline summarizes each event and phase with material usage information for solids and liquids for each vehicle. Solid materials are measured in US tons, liquid materials are measured in gallons. This feature layer output is configured to retain data for one year before it is archived, meaning ArcGIS Velocity will maintain up to two years of your data.
  • The sixth pipeline updates the Event and EventPhase tables (Winter Operations feature layer) with summarized information for distances traveled and materials used. These tables also store the total duration and snowfall for each event (and shift, service level, weather observations and operation type for Phases), so you can store and compare key operational metrics for each event (and phase) over multiple seasons.

Note:

Ensure you have successfully completed the steps to Modify the Winter Vehicle Tracking real-time analytic before completing the following steps.

To update the Winter Operations Analytics scheduled big data analytic, complete the following steps:

  1. In the ArcGIS Velocity app, use the site menu and click Big Data Analytic.
  2. On the Big Data Analytics page, click the Edit button Edit for the Winter Operations Analytics big data analytic.
  3. Note the broken node in the analytic for Winter Vehicle Tracks.

    When the solution was initially deployed, this feature service did not yet exist.

  4. Double-click the Winter Vehicle Tracks node to open the source data properties.
  5. Click Edit.
  6. From the Select Layer step, ensure the search context is My Content, and then search for and select the wintervehicletracks_[UniqueID] feature service.

    Ensure the Feature Service is selected, not the map service of the same name.

  7. Click Next.
  8. From the Filter Data step, insert the following text into the WHERE clause:

    datetimeprocessed > CURRENT_TIMESTAMP - INTERVAL '10' MINUTE AND vehiclestatus = 'Operational' AND assignedoperation = 'Winter'

  9. From the Filter Data step, change the Output spatial reference to 3857 (WGS 1984 Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere).
  10. Click Next.
  11. Click Next for the Confirm Schema step.
  12. From the Timestamp Field step, confirm the Date field for latest features is set to the datetimeprocessed field and then click Next.
  13. From the Identify Key Fields step, ensure Start time is set to the location_timestamp field and Track ID is set to the vehicleid field and then click Complete.

    The analytic attempts to validate.

  14. Click Save to commit updates to the analytic.

    One or more warnings may be present, but the analytic is still successfully validated. This is expected and you can proceed to the next step. If errors are present, you will need to resolve them before moving on to the next step.

  15. Click Start to run the scheduled big data analytic.
Note:

The Winter Operations Analytics big data analytic is configured to run every five minutes. Change this interval to meet the needs of your organization. It is not recommended to decrease this interval. If increasing this interval over 10 minutes, also consider updating the WHERE clause minute interval in Step 8 to a number that is greater than your scheduled big data analytic interval.

You have completed the steps for updating the ArcGIS Velocity analytics delivered with the solution.

Modify winter event phase types

The Winter Event Manager form, accessed through the Events page of the Winter Operations Center app, is used to define winter weather events and phases so you can track key performance metrics during operational periods and communicate important information with the public. During an active event, an event phase can be used to define a change in the period of activity, such as a shift change, predominant weather observed, the type of operation being performed, and/or a change in service level.

Public notice templates make it easy for staff to communicate important messages consistently, and the phase categories and types used for service level, shift, type of operation and weather observation will vary from organization to organization. The message templates and phase categories and types are defined Winter Event Phase Types CSV file deployed with the solution.

To modify the public notice templates and the phase categories and types available in the Winter Event Manager form, complete the following steps:

  1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Winter Event Phase Types CSV file.
  2. From the item page, click Download.
  3. Open the CSV file and edit it with your information.
    Note:

    The source field column defines whether the values apply to the Winter Event Manager form's question for Public notice template (Event table, field: eventcommentpublic), Service level (EventPhase table field: servicelevel), Operation type (EventPhase table field: operationtype), Shift (EventPhase table field: shift), and Predominant weather observed (EventPhase table field: phaseweather). The name field defines the value that is written to the feature. The label field defines the value shown in the app drop-down menu. The source value field defines which category the type will display under.

  4. Save and close the file.
  5. In your ArcGIS organization, return to the Winter Event Phase Types item page.
  6. From the item page, click Update Data.
    Tip:

    You may need to click the expand button Expand to see all options.

  7. Follow the steps in the Update data wizard to load your data.

Update public apps

The Snow Routes and Restrictions app helps your organization connect with the community by displaying you designated snow routes, snow routes based on route priority, and displaying where parking restrictions exist. Complete the workflow below to update important information that your organization may share with the public regarding snow and ice control operations in your community.

Configure the service request form

The Winter Weather Operations solution includes the Winter Request form that can be used by the general public to submit non-emergency road-related problems or requests for service in their community.

A well-defined list of winter request types makes it easy for the public to report issues to your organization and for your organization to communicate service level agreements (SLA). These SLAs ensure that citizens understand what to expect when they submit a request for service, including how long it will take for the organization to respond to certain types of requests.

To update the types of winter-related issues that can be reported in your community, complete the following steps:

  1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Winter_Request_Types.csv file.
  2. From the item page, click Download.
  3. Open the Winter_Request_Types.csv file.
    Tip:

    The source_field column defines whether the values apply to the request type field (feature layer field: reqtype) or to the service level agreement and description fields (feature layer fields: sla and description). For request types, the name column defines the value that is written to the feature, and the label column defines the value shown in the app drop-down menu.

    For service level agreements and descriptions, the name column defines the request category (for example, Snow/Ice), followed by a hyphen (-) and the name of the request type. The label column defines the values used for the request type's description, and the sla column defines the values for the service level agreement text.

  4. Add, remove, or modify the road request types, descriptions, and service level agreement text.
  5. From the item page, click Update Data.
    Tip:

    You may need to click the expand button Expand to see all options.

  6. Follow the steps in the Update data wizard to load your data.

Configure the Snow Routes and Restrictions web map

The Snow Routes and Restrictions app is a configuration of a Media Map app that can be used by the public to view parking restrictions, designated snow routes, and snow routes by route priority. By default, the layer style for snow route priorities is not set in the Snow Routes and Restrictions web map, as the names and numbers of priority categories for snow routes and snow route names or IDs vary from one agency to the next.

To update the map symbols for snow routes to depict route priority in the Snow Routes and Restrictions web map, complete the following steps:

  1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Snow Routes and Restrictions web map.
  2. Open the item page and select Open in Map Viewer.
  3. In the Layers pane, click the Designated Snow Routes layer to select it.
  4. On the Settings (light) toolbar, click Styles Styles.
  5. In the Types (unique symbols) section, click Style options.
  6. Under the Other style group, click to select each unique Snow Route ID, then click Move to group, and then select Untitled group.

    This will move all selected Snow Route ID's to the main symbol group.

  7. Optionally, do any of the following:
    • Click Symbol Style to modify color ramps, line transparency, and stroke for all Snow Route ID categories at once. For more information, see Use style options.
    • Click the colored symbol next to each Snow Route ID category in the list to customize any of the Snow Route ID categories' styles individually.
    • Drag a category up or down in the list to reorder the categories.
  8. Click Done when you are finished customizing the style.

    Repeat these steps for the Snow Route Priority layer.

  9. Click Save and open Save and open and click Save to save the web map.

Configure the Safe Winter Roads site

The Winter Weather Operations solution includes the Safe Winter Roads ArcGIS Hub site. This site can be configured with your organization's branding and used to share winter outreach information with the public, including route status updates, winter response plans, and the ability to report snow and ice issues.

After deploying the Winter Weather Operations solution, the Safe Winter Roads Hub site layout requires a few updates to fit your local context.

To update the site with your organizational information, complete the following steps:

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Safe Winter Roads site.
  2. From the item page, click Configure.
  3. Scroll to any sections that you want to update, hover over the card, and click the edit pencil Edit that appears in the horizontal toolbar, and then edit the content with information specific to your organization.
  4. In the side panel, click Footer.

    A custom footer is provided. In most cases, you will need to update it with your organization's branding, contact information, and social media references.

  5. Click the HTML text box.

    The HTML window appears.

  6. Make the necessary changes and click Apply.
  7. Click Save.
  8. Click the Save drop-down arrow and click Publish Draft.

Share items with the public

Several layer views, maps, and apps included in the Winter Weather Operations solution must be shared with everyone so they can be accessed by the public on the Safe Winter Roads site. To share your winter outreach items with everyone, use the guide below and complete the following steps:

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Winter Weather Operations folder.
  2. Check the check box next to each of the items below:

    NameItem type
    Winter Request

    Form

    Requests_submit

    Feature layer (hosted, view)

    Winter_Request_Types

    CSV

    Snow Route Status Dashboard

    Dashboard

    Snow Route Status Lookup

    Instant App

    Snow Route Status

    Web Map

    Snow Routes and Restrictions

    Instant App

    Snow Routes and Restrictions

    Web Map

    Winter Operations_public

    Feature layer (hosted, view)

    EventSnowRoutes_public

    Feature layer (hosted, view)

    Safe Winter Roads

    Hub Site Application

  3. Click Share.
  4. In the Share window, click Everyone (public) and click Save.

    The Warning: Sharing editable layers publicly message appears notifying you that you are sharing editable layers publicly.

  5. Click Update.